Fire on board cruise ship in Moscow portput out, no one injured

November 24, 2011, 12:16 UTC+3This was already the second fire on board the ship over the past ten days

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MOSCOW, November 24 (Itar-Tass) — The fire on board the Sergei Abramov cruise ship in the Moscow Northern River Port has been put out, spokesman for the emergencies ministry’s Moscow department Yevgeny Bobylyov told Tass.

The fire engulfed an area of 20 square meters, the spokesman said. It broke out on the first deck late on Wednesday during welding work. Then the fire partially spread out to the second deck.

This was already the second fire on board the ship over the past ten days.

The first fire broke out overnight to November 14 and it took firemen 13 hours to put it out. The fire destroyed 1,500 square meters. The ship listed to starboard and its aft sank. Four people were injured and the fate of one crewmember is still unclear. Supposedly he died failing to leave the cabin when the fire began.

Aboard the vessel there were 31 people -- 15 visitors to a restaurant and 16 crew members. Seven people were rescued. Four were injured. Two of them were taken to hospital.

The fire fighting operation was difficult. The ship had 33 tons of fuel on board. Firefighters had to pump out the fuel. The ship was built in 1960 and its design service life was 25 years.

The three-deck motor ship Sergei Abramov was built in Czechoslovakia in 1960. It was reconstructed in 2003. It was believed to be one of the best river cruise ships. The vessel for 146 passengers is 96.18 m long and 14.99 m wide. Its draft is 2.4 m. The speed is up to 25 km/h. The ship was formerly named Druzhba and Captain Rachkov.